Kabbah Urges For Pakistani Trade Delegation
By Yusuf Alghali

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah has called on the new Pakistani High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, Mr. Iftikhar A. Arain, to help expedite a delegation of Pakistani business investors to Freetown to explore possible areas of business partnerships and mutual trade with their local counterparts. The kind of delegation sought is similar to that of another business trade group expected to arrive Freetown from the United Kingdom shortly, with a view to promoting local commerce, industries and job creation.

Responding to a formal statement delivered by the new High Commissioner, prior to his presentation of credentials at the Lodge Friday, President Kabbah said his government had "given priority to agriculture with the objective of attaining food security by the year 2007". He added: "We are prepared to collaborate with your country in order to make our common endeavours a reality, especially in the development of agricultural expertiseto enhance the capacity of our farmers to utilise their potentials in this field."

The Head of State said his government and people were aware of the "important role Pakistan had played and continues to play in the socio-economic and political development" of Sierra Leone. He said this was "clearly visible" in Pakistan's UN Peacekeepers in Sierra Leone, who, apart from their normal peacekeeping operations, had undertaken significant infra-structural development, such as building schools, hospitals, mosques and rehabilitating roads in their various areas of deployment.

However, the President went on to highlight other needs relating to the training of personnel in local and decentralised governance, defence, diplomacy and other relevant fields, to "enhance thehuman resource potential of our country".

High Commissioner Arain, who indicated that he would be happy to discuss further training needs of Sierra Leone, said opportunities exist for the training of nominees in such divers fields as banking, defence and diplomacy. He said Pakistan also produces a variety of goods ranging from agricultural to industrial goods, apart from also being a producer of some of the most sophisticated defence equipment in the world.

"I shall be making special efforts during the term of my duty to try to develop bilateral economic and commercial relations between our two countries to their full potential," the envoy assured President Kabbah.

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